If you have never used them before, the Microsoft OCS TechNet Forums are a great resource for asking questions and resolving problems. As of last [...]]]> There have recently been several noteworthy changes to the Microsoft TechNet OCS and UC resources available on TechNet.  Here is a summary of the changes:

1) The OCS TechNet Forums have Moved

If you have never used them before, the Microsoft OCS TechNet Forums are a great resource for asking questions and resolving problems. As of last week (Nov 9, 2009) Microsoft moved and re-organized the OCS community discussion forms. One major drawback to this is that the old content could not be moved into the new forums.

The old Office Communications Server TechNet Forums can be located here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/ocs and are now locked down (no new posts), but you can still search and read the old content.

The new Office Communications Server TechNet Forums is located here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/ocs.

Jeff Schertz has a good article detailing the re-organization of categories if you want more detail.

2) New OCS Troubleshooting and UC Update Resource Center Pages

The Microsoft Office Communications Server Team have released several two new OCS web resource portals in the last month.  Here is a summary:

a) Office Communications Server and Client Troubleshooting and Support Page

This is a round-up of resources available for solving problems:

1. An embedded Knowledge Base search – surprisingly not customized for OCS or Communicator.
2. Links to the OCS forums.
3. Contact information for Microsoft support.

b) Updates Resource Center for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Clients

A web page detailing the most recent updates (information and links to the actual update) for OCS and the UC Clients (Communicator, Live Meeting, etc…).

3) The ‘Next Hop’

Recently announced at PDC, there is a new TechNet resource portal called NextHop which is designed to offer helpful hints and information on OCS.

I can vouch for the OCS 2007 R2 Resource Kit being an excellent resource, and for a limited time you can get a free digital copy of it and “Programming for [...]]]> This has been picked up by a few blogs recently. It is such a good offer, I thought I would get the word out also.

I can vouch for the OCS 2007 R2 Resource Kit being an excellent resource, and for a limited time you can get a free digital copy of it and “Programming for Unified Communications” from Microsoft Press.

Click the appropriate book below to link to the MS Press site where you can register and get your free E-Book.